CHAPTER ONE

How do you explain the unfair nature of life?

I feel like my father's life is the best example of that. How can a man live his whole life developing and building a multibillon dollar company only to watch it being taken away from him at the end......make it make sense to me.

I never understood why, it's even more heartbreaking knowing that the loss of the company led to his untimely death. My father always believed that as long as you were on the right path, things will work out for you but now I struggle to believe in this.

He was.... I now have to use WAS when talking about my father. My father was a very kind and hardworking man, he was loved by many until recently. Despite becoming a widower at an early age, he took his responsibility as a father very seriously.

I was the apple of his eyes, he was always there and even when he couldn't be....you just couldn't blame him. Just as he loved me he equally loved his company, a business venture he meticulously nurtured till it became one of the top ten companies in the nation.

Unfortunately his life was cut short by the unexpected before he could enjoy the fruit of his labour all in the name of the right path. I was with him on that path and together we went through hell but we never seemed to get what we deserved.

First was the death of his wife despite his efforts, then the loss of his company and his unfortunate demise. This has led me to question my whole belief "was he right or have we been on the wrong path all this while".

The whole atmosphere was calm, the wind was gentle, the trees didn't fight either and gently obeyed the wind. The preacher had with him his Bible and muttered words that sounded distant to me while the people responded

A vaguely familiar hymn was sung by the people and I watched as my father was carefully lowered to the ground, six feet deep never to be seen again in this life. I am now left with only pictures and the memories in my head as evidence of ever having a father.

Perseverance.....one thing he always talked about, he was very good at encouraging me to persevere through hardship, I could still hear his voice "when the going gets tough, you have to be tougher Princess"

Why couldn't he persevere, why couldn't he be tougher, why did he give up so soon why did he leave me alone in this wicked world....I felt abandoned but even at that I couldn't blame him, he never expected such betrayal from his beloved brother

I could feel the tears trying to escape, my whole being weak with sadness and sorrow, his death was unexpected and terribly painful but I had to remain strong no matter what.

With my father buried, the ceremony was moved to a hall to entertain guests. I felt like an outsider at my own father's funeral, my uncle and his family were in charge of the guest and tried their best to avoid me,

I stayed put at the corner as directed by my aunt " just stay here sweetie, try not to draw attention to yourself, you know the situation surrounding your father's death...so just let your uncle and I handle this to avoid any incident"

I didn't agree with her but I had to obey her still, I had to maintain the meek, naive and harmless reputation if I wanted any chance at clearing my father's name and getting back what was mine

Honestly I couldn't care less about the guests, I was happy I didn't have to put up with them. They were all opportunists and traitors to the best of my knowledge and I know for a fact that none of them here felt sorry for the loss of my father

As quiet as I could be I still couldn't avoid the stares and whispers that filled the hall, I felt like an animal at the zoo, a spectacle being examined. They were not discreet at all in their loud whispers

".....I heard her father embezzled money from the company amongst other crimes that could have led to the downfall of the company. He probably thought he could get away with it " came stranger one

" I thought they said he built the company from scratch, why would he want to ruin it now that it has risen to the top ten companies in the nation" countered stranger two

" Oh love, are you sure you are in this city cause believe me apart from the crimes against him, a lot of people are saying it was actually his brother that was working behind the scenes and he just took credit for it because he was older" Added stranger three

...strangers because this were people who had no business being in this memorial, they were just here to witness the wonderful show organized by my uncle

"I guess we will never know, I pity the daughter" came stranger two again

" Why though, you think she was not in on it all this while, after all her father was grooming her to be his successor...you can't trust rich people" snickered stranger three,

" Then why are you here then!" I screamed inside my head. I was fuming, I wanted to wring their necks one by one. They looked up to meet my eyes on them and quickly waddled together to another corner of the room to continue their gossip

"Well at least they still had some shame" I thought to myself. I looked around the big hall, to my uncle and his family with the guests, they were the good guys the ones that did the right thing by not supporting his evil brother and everyone was here to support him and to assure him that his brother's death was not his fault as he blamed himself for revealing his true face.

Ha! What a joke, if only they knew the truth....but then again people don't usually care for the truth, they just settle for whatever works for them.

I looked around the room and surely his eyes were still on me, he came in shortly after my Aunt gave me the talk to 'stay and look pretty' hahaha! I know it's not funny but a girl can only try to find amusement in a shit circus show

Since then his eyes has been on me following my every move only leaving it to talk to some of the guest, sometimes even while talking to them his eyes was still on me

What is his problem, did he have some kind of misunderstanding with my father or was he a member of the board, I don't recognize him from the company or the pictures my father showed me

His all black assemble even from across the room screamed luxury, he looked immaculate if I was being honest from his clothes to his accessories. From his perfectly structured jawline to his slightly perked up nose and cute lips....cute lips? what the hell Esta are you seriously analyzing the creepy man?

But our eyes have met so many times now that I just couldn't help but notice his well proportioned body, the suit was well tailored to frame his muscles perfectly packed at the right places, you could see a man with an attractive and healthy body

If I am correct he stood roughly at six foot five or aix....I don't really know, all together and you get a perfect handsome hunk of a man built to perfection, his eyes made me weak in the knees and the realization only made me very uncomfortable.

In all my twenty four years on earth nobody has ever made me feel this uncomfortable. This doesn't make sense so I decided going outside to get a little bit of air will do a lot of good only to encounter another weird one, he literally came out of nowhere and stood in front of me

"Miss Esta... My condolences, I know you may not be thinking right at this moment but come what may, you have to work diligently under your uncle for your own good"

I balled up my hands, wanting so much to punch him...Traitor! How dare he! There were not many people near the balcony but I still couldn't loose my cool, I hoped my eyes were enough to communicate to him how disgusted I was with him and the horrible pain I wished to inflict on him

I was brought out of my imagination by the voice of Uncle Eric "Princess....." I felt instant relief from all the pains in my heart I turned back to the traitor but just as he came he was gone

"How are you holding up dear, is there anything you want me to do for you?" It felt good to have at least one person supporting me, my "lovely" family has not even checked to see how I was doing but why was I surprised

"I'm okay, uncle Eric"

"Have you eaten anything...." when I did not reply "...I get it you don't feel like eating anything or talking to anybody but you need to remember that your health comes first no matter what" he said

" I know"

" You wanna leave here, maybe get something to eat or drink or just leave entirely....I could take you out for ice cream" he suggested

" Hahaha" I laughed for the first time in a long time "I'm good Uncle Eric besides I can't leave just yet, these people here came to mourn dad so I have to be here" a moment of silence because we both know thats not true and nobody here cares about my father's death

"And..." I continued "...I am no longer a small girl, I just wanted some fresh air that's why am here"

" Are you sure, I know a very good place that makes the best banana flavoured mix you love with the crunchy biscuits"

" They are not biscuits Uncle Eric" I said knowing exactly what he meant

" I don't know, looks the same to me"

Dear Uncle Eric, always on my side when it comes to my love for comfort food even without my father's permission " I'm fine" I reassured him

"If you say so sweetheart, at least I got to see you smile. I will let you be but don't hesitate to call me if you need me okay...."

" I know and thank you once again"

" Hey, know that I am always here for you" that was all I needed at that point in my life....with a hug I was left alone to my thought.

By the time I went back into the hall Mr Handsome was gone, looking at all the people dressed up in different black attire from the men to the women you would think that this was some kind of fashion parade

I hate funerals always had always will, from the death of my maternal grandmother the only grandparent I ever knew to my mother and now my father, I couldn't understand why I kept loosing those close to my heart.

This funeral however was different from others, I felt utterly alone......